The Global Revival Of South African Modernist Irma Stern Continues With Strauss & Co’s International Sale 

· Fresh to market Irma Stern painting leads The International Sale (28 October 2025)

· Malay (Black Headdress), 1946, estimate ZAR7–10 million / US$404 018–577 168

· Public lecture and webinar by Stern experts

Returning to the market after more than fifty years in private hands, Irma Stern’s magnificent 1946 portrait Malay (Black Headdress) (estimate ZAR7–10 million / US$404 018–577 168) will headline the third edition of Strauss & Co’s The International Sale, including Irma Stern’s Malay (Black Headdress) on Tuesday, 28 October 2025. The painting’s appearance coincides with Stern’s extraordinary resurgence on the global stage, notably at the 2024 Venice Biennale and now through her acclaimed retrospective in Berlin.

Currently on view at the Brücke Museum, Irma Stern: A Modern Artist between Berlin and Cape Town re-examines Stern’s role as a pioneering modernist and central figure in the story of German Expressionism. A founding member of the Novembergruppe (November Group) and a close associate of Brücke artist Max Pechstein, Stern studied in Weimar and Berlin in the 1910s and exhibited in the German capital’s most important galleries during the 1920s.

“These formative years established the bold, highly coloured and emotionally charged style she brought back to South Africa,” says Leigh Leyde, Head of Sale, Strauss & Co. “Malay (Black Headdress) belongs to her peak years. At its centre is a Cape Muslim woman, her black hijab gracefully draped around her head and neck. Stern captures this figure of quiet dignity and psychological depth using the thick impasto technique that defines her celebrated golden period from the mid-1930s to late 1940s.”

Painted in 1946, the work dates from one of the most significant years of Stern’s career. Returning from her second visit to Zanzibar in 1945, she was at the height of her creative powers. That year she presented a landmark exhibition in Cape Town featuring major works such as The Smoker, 1945 (sold in 2024 by Strauss & Co for ZAR17 156 250 / US$991 341). The early months of 1946 saw Stern painting with remarkable intensity in preparation for a Johannesburg show before travelling to the Belgian Congo.

“This exceptional portrait, produced in the high-energy atmosphere of her Cape Town studio, was almost certainly acquired directly from the artist during the surge of collector enthusiasm that defined the period,” says Leigh Leyde. “Its history since has been unusually discreet. Privately held since the 1940s, it has remained unseen for decades. Stern herself marked the work’s importance by photographing and annotating it for her personal archive, a practice she reserved for her most valued paintings.”

On Thursday, 23 October 2025 at 6pm, Alastair Merdith, Strauss & Co’s Head of Art Department, will moderate a webinar with Berlin art historian Lisa Hörstmann, curator of the Brücke Museum’s Stern retrospective, and Cape Town art historian Michael Godby, professor emeritus at the University of Cape Town and author of two books on Stern, including Object Lessons: Still Life Paintings by Irma Stern 1908–1965. In the lead-up to the sale, Leigh Leyde will also deliver a public lecture titled Tracing Irma Stern’s Golden Year on Sunday, 26 October 2025 at 11.30am at Strauss & Co’s salesroom and gallery in Woodstock, Cape Town.

Strauss & Co’s two-part The International Sale, including Irma Stern’s Malay (Black Headdress) brings together collectable artworks spanning five centuries, with a distinguished selection of paintings, prints, photography and sculpture by international artists drawn from private South African collections. Irma Stern’s Malay (Black Headdress) will be presented in the premier evening session, alongside works by Marc Chagall, David Hockney, Joan Miró, Otto Modersohn, Takashi Murakami, Pablo Picasso, Stephen Shore, Édouard Vuillard and Andy Warhol.

www.straussart.co.za

IRMA STERN WEBINAR

Discover the true modernist identity of Irma Stern, South Africa’s top-selling artist, as we re-examine her output following the landmark Brücke-Museum exhibition and her latest 2024 Venice Biennale inclusion. The discussion will unpack how Stern was a pivotal figure in German Expressionism and a key international modernist. The focus will delve into her formative Berlin years, exploring her crucial ties to the Novembergruppe and friendship with Brücke artist Max Pechstein, and how this established the bold style she brought to the Cape. Featuring an exclusive look at Prof Michael Godby’s latest research on Stern’s Still Life and his earlier work on her nude studies.

Speakers: Dr Lisa Hörstmann, Prof Michael Godby. Facilitated by Dr Alastair Meredith.

Thursday, 23 October at 6pm CAT 

RSVP: CLICK HERE https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PIFpwswoTjmVTrQnreGl5A

E-Catalogue: Click here .